SAN MARCOS: Educators weigh in on 'Race to Nowhere'

Documentary on schools says students stressed over homework, other demands

Local educators made up much of the audience at a Thursday night
screening of a documentary about public school students overwhelmed
with homework and other pressures, and some said the film made them
think of their own districts.

"We talk a lot in the district about this homework debate," said
San Marcos Unified School District Superintendent Kevin Holt, one
of five panelist who discussed the film "Race to Nowhere" after its
screening at Cal State San Marcos. "Is it purposeful and
meaningful? Is it reasonable in the amount and quantity?"

"There's three pages worth of notes here that I happened to
prepare for my staff, because I'm going to show this movie to them
when they return from vacation," Villarreal said.

Unlike the more-widely distributed "Waiting for Superman," a
documentary that blamed failing schools largely on uninspired
teachers, "Race to Nowhere" shows students being pushed to the
point of physical exhaustion to keep up their grade-point
averages.

Director Vicki Abeles has said "Race to Nowhere," her first
documentary, was inspired after her own daughter was diagnosed with
a stress-related illness. She and her family are featured in the
film, which includes students, educators and psychologists.

In the film, a girl named Allison tells of being sent to a
stress center, and a boy named Sam reveals he woke up dreading to
go to school. Their last names are not revealed.

Much of the film focused on an overload of homework and a push
to take college-prep courses and pile on extracurricular activities
in order to be accepted by four-year universities.

Ironically, some educators in the film said, students in nations
with less homework often outperform American students academically,
and college prep courses sometimes do little more than inflate
grade-point averages without actually teaching much.

"You stuff as much as possible into your brain, and when you're
done with it, out it goes," one boy in the film said. A girl in the
film said she looks forward to college as a place where she will
finally start learning.

A college dean in the film noted that despite the high
grade-point averages required to get into schools in the University
of California system, many students who excelled academically in
high school must take remedial courses to bring them up to speed
once they enter college.

Teachers in the film also complained that they don't have an
opportunity to teach project-based learning or other activities
said to instill critical-thinking skills, but instead are directed
to teach students how to take standardized tests that are used to
judge their school's overall performance.

Asked by an audience member how to keep passion alive in
teachers, Chaplin said they should be treated as professionals and
not directed to follow prepackaged curriculums.

In the audience, Escondido High School District Superintendent
Ed Nelson joined the discussion and said the culture of society and
the competitiveness of a worldwide workplace was adding stress to
students.